Seminole Tribe of Florida
The Seminole Tribe of Florida is a federally recognized Seminole tribe based in the U.S. state of Florida. Together with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, it is one of three federally recognized Seminole entities. It received that status in 1957. Today, it has six Indian reservations in Florida.
The Florida Seminole, along with the Miccosukee, speak the Mikasuki language, also spelled Miccosukee. The language has been referred to as a descendant of Hitchiti, a dialect of Hitchiti, and another term for Hitchiti. Additionally, some Florida Seminole communities speak a dialect of the Mvskoke language called Florida Seminole Creek.
In 1975, the Tribe established tax-free smoke shops and a high-stakes bingo operation that became one of the first tribal gaming endeavors in the United States. These ventures, particularly the gaming operation, have generated significant revenues for education, welfare and economic development. A 2005 tribal audit said it took in $1.1 billion in revenues that year. The Seminole Tribe is also known widely for owning the Hard Rock Cafe as well as nearly all Hard Rock-branded properties including casinos, hotels, and resorts since 2006. The tribe requires members to have at least one-quarter Seminole blood quantum. As of 2016, the estimated wealth of the tribe is near US$12 billion.
History
The Seminole emerged in a process of ethnogenesis from various Native American groups who settled in Florida in the 18th century, primarily Muscogee from what is now northern Florida, Georgia and Alabama. They distanced themselves increasingly from other Muscogee groups, and expanded and prospered owing to their thriving trade network during Florida's British and second Spanish periods. These settlers joined with the survivors of Florida's original Native American communities in the interior of south Florida. While some scholars have thought that the Calusa were also integrated into the Seminole tribes, there is no documentation to support that theory.During this period, the largely autonomous Native American villages developed alliances with African-American maroons, mostly self-emancipated former slaves from the South's Low Country and some free blacks from the Spanish period of rule. These people became known as Black Seminoles, establishing towns near Native American settlements.
During the Seminole Wars against the United States in the 19th century, however, particularly after the second war, most Seminole and Black Seminole were forced by the US to relocate west of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory. A smaller group – possibly fewer than 500 – refused to leave Florida and moved deep into the Everglades, where they avoided settlers and thrived in pseudo-isolation. They fostered a culture of staunch independence. The modern Florida Seminole, about 17,233 at the 2010 census, Miccosukee and Traditionals descend from these survivors.
The Florida Seminole re-established limited relations with the United States and Florida governments in the late 19th century, and by the early 20th century were concentrated in five camps in the Everglades. The portion who spoke more Muskogee consolidated in the northern part of the Everglades near the Cow Creek Camp, becoming known as the Cow Creek Seminole. The Miccosukee, who spoke the Mikasuki language, were located to the south, in an area cut through by completion of the Tamiami Trail in 1928.
The Cow Creek Seminole eventually received of reservation land in the 1930s, beginning with Brighton Reservation. At first, few Seminoles had any interest in relocating to reservations, preferring their traditional lifestyle to a more sedentary reservation life. Following the efforts of Creek Christian missionaries, more Seminole moved to reservations in the 1940s to form their own churches. Other factors in the move include Florida's drainage of the wetlands and shift toward wide-scale agriculture. This contributed to the depletion of game and other resources by the state's expanding population, reducing the tribal people's ability to live in traditional ways.
Tribal reorganization
From 1920 to 1940, many changes took place in Seminole land and environment. Settlers and developers wanting to convert wetlands to farms and residential communities had built drainage projects, which altered the wetlands ecosystem and damaged many species that it supported. As early as 1916, Royal Palm State Park, which would be incorporated into the Everglades National Park in 1947, was set aside as a conservation area. Construction of the Tamiami Trail across the center of the Everglades, the Civilian Conservation Corps projects from 1933 to 1934, and the eventual opening of the National Park, all served to displace many Seminole families who had lived throughout the area.In the 1930s, the US government established a reservation at Brighton and tried to recruit Seminole to resettle there. The government fenced in the reservation and introduced cattle, which had been part of Seminole culture for three centuries. The first government shipment of cattle arrived from Arizona in 1934 and, by the late 1930s, the cattle business was a way of life for many Seminole. In 1936, the US government supplied cattle to the Florida Seminoles with an understanding that the tribes would repay for the livestock in the coming years.
Cattle trustees
With the introduction of cattle to Brighton, the Seminoles were introduced to democratic ideas and tribal organization. The trust agreement established by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, on September 12, 1939, required that the tribe elect three trustees to transact the business of the cattle program. The first "election" was largely guided by the Florida Agricultural Extension Agent, Fred Montsdeoca, and a local missionary. They promoted men who knew English and were good at White-Native cooperation, as opposed to allowing the tribe to select those most skilled in animal husbandry. Montsdeoca was extremely influential in making decisions regarding the cattle program and, next to the Indian Affairs official at the reservation, was the most important local White man for the Seminole.Given their success at Brighton, in 1941, the Seminole acquired 150 head of cattle from Florida for the Big Cypress Reservation. By 1944, the Big Cypress Seminole wanted their own trustees and drafted an agreement with the government. Approved by the BIA commissioner on August 8, 1945, this agreement called for the establishment of the Brighton Agricultural and Livestock Enterprise and the Big Cypress Agricultural and Livestock Enterprise, each with their own three trustee cattle managers. The tribal trustees would be appointed, with each of the cattle trustee groups and the BIA agent appointing a tribal trustee. The three appointees on each reservation would also serve as tribal representatives. In essence, this requirement ensured that those adept at navigating between the Native American and non-Native worlds would gain the positions. According to Covington, men who were adept at developing consensus decisions and had converted to Christianity were most likely to be selected.
Although such tribal organization was relatively weak, the tribe used it as a basis for their team to file a land claim with the Indian Claims Commission, seeking compensation for lands taken by the federal government.
Land claims
In October 1948, the two livestock associations met with the Bureau of Indian Affairs superintendent to discuss pursuing a land claim against the U.S. Government through the newly formed Indian Claims Commission. They contacted Jacksonville attorney Roger J. Waybright, who initially was reluctant to take the case because the tribe had limited funding and the government dictated the amounts the attorneys could charge. Waybright was soon persuaded of the merits of the case and agreed to represent the tribe, signing a contract with his partner John O. Jackson on October 15, 1949. The 12 representatives who made the claim were the six trustees for the livestock associations and the 6 tribal representatives: Josie Billie, Jimmy Cypress, John Cypress, Junior Cypress, John Henry Gopher, Little Charlie Micco, Bill Osceola, Frank Shore, Jack Smith, Morgan Smith, Ben Tommie, and Sammy Tommie.The claim was filed August 14, 1950, and represented land taken under the Treaty of Moultrie Creek in 1823, land taken under the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832, land taken in the Macomb Treaty of 1839, and land taken in 1944 for the Everglades National Park —– in all totaling nearly $48,000,000. In July 1951 the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma had also filed a petition before the Indian Claims Commission for claims involving their removal to Oklahoma and substantially the same land takings under Moultrie and Payne's Landing as the Florida Seminoles. Because of the overlapping of claims, the commission split the Florida claim into two cases, one sharing the Oklahoma claims in the treaties and the other, dealing with Florida's sole claim to land taken for the Everglades National Park.
Government delays; tribal reorganization, which caused Waybright to resign from the case; resignation of the female replacement for Waybright, Effie Knowles, who felt the tribe would be happier with male representation; the hiring of Roy Struble of Miami and Charles Bragman of Washington, DC; and the death of attorney John Jackson all contributed to the claim dragging into the 1960s. Then in 1962, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida organized their tribe and gained federal recognition. They sought to intervene in the case in 1968, but were not allowed. Finally on May 13, 1970, the Claims Commission awarded $12,262,780, which was promptly appealed by both the Oklahoma and Florida Seminoles. In 1975, in a compromise settlement to prevent further delays, the two groups agreed to $16,000,000 as a final settlement, but were required to have general meetings with their tribes to confirm the amount.
In January 1976, the Florida Seminole were presented with the terms of settlement; it was translated into both the Mikasuki language and Muscogee language. Only seven tribemembers opposed accepting the agreement. In March 1976, the unorganized Traditionals in Florida filed an injunction to stop the award. On March 11, 1977, the Traditionals' complaint was dismissed. On April 20, 1977, the Macomb claim was disallowed, but an additional $50,000 was awarded for land in the Everglades. With those final decisions the awards were completed, but it took another fourteen years before the funds were distributed. The Claims Commission gave no direction as to how the judgment was to be split between the tribes of Oklahoma and Florida Seminoles, the Miccosukee and Traditionals.
The groups had to negotiate as to how the settlement would be apportioned, leading to the most contact among them in a century. During this period, the money was put in trust and earning interest. In 1990, the groups finally agreed to the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma receiving three-quarters of the settlement, based on early population records from 1906 to 1914, when members had blood quantum; and the Florida Seminole in total to receive one-quarter, based on reconstructed early 20th-century censuses. At the time of the settlement, the two Florida tribes and Traditionals had a higher percentage of full-bloods due to their endogamous marriage practices. They also had blood quantum requirements for tribal membership. By 1990, the total value of the trust had reached $46 million.